Coffeehouse
by cmart91
Summary: *Tumblr inspired ONE SHOT* Basically Paige is a pre-law student that has been coming to a specific coffeehouse for three years because of a certain raven-haired barista. But Paige could never get the courage to talk to Emily until one night she shows up at the coffeehouse leaving Emily stunned.


_A/N: okay so i didn't this thing...again. Sooooooo I wasn't going to post it but I guess I will. It is inspired by prettyrecaps on tumblr and a comment she made on a photoset of Paige stills for 5x11. **I DIDN'T COME UP WITH THIS IDEA**. I used an idea of someone else came up with and just expanded it. Again,** I didn't come up with it**. I just get inspired easily and i couldn't stop writing it. _

_Anyways let me know what you think? maybe i shouldn't have wrote it huh?_

* * *

**Coffeehouse**

Living in New York City, you find that there are lots coffeehouses. Each different in their own way, some are efficient and get your order to you quickly so you can get it before class and not be late. Some are laid back and chill with your friend's type of place. And some, no matter how busy it gets, there is always one area where it is quiet, perfect for studying for law school.

This was the case for a one, Paige McCullers, she had her different coffeehouses for her different reasons. She'd been living in New York City for four years now that she tested the waters of, not all but a good portion of coffeehouses in the city. She found that one was the best for her study habits since her dorm mates were more into partying then studying. This coffeehouse was one of the few that were open a little past midnight that weren't in a bad neighbor. This coffeehouse was close enough to the dorms that Paige didn't have to worry about being mugged when she left late at night.

Paige had been coming to this particular coffeehouse for three years ever since she decided to go into law. She was always into school but ever since the revelation, at the end of freshman year, she had been working hard to have the best grades in all her pre-law classes. This included having enough caffeine and a quiet place to grasp the numerous concepts.

This coffeehouse had a two small areas that could fit about three people each that was curtained off to the rest of the coffeehouse. This was where Paige would study. She had the area to herself and her books, laptop, notes and coffee mug spread out throughout the table.

Paige would be lying if she didn't say that there wasn't another reason for her continuing to come to the coffeehouse. Of course she came for the peace and quiet as well as the coffee. But there was one more, very important, reason why she came back.

"Hey there. Can I get you a refill on your coffee?" The young attractive barista offered as the curtain came back. The tan girl was standing before Paige's very eyes with a wholesome smile and a coffee pot in hand. Paige stared at the dark haired girl in awe. This seemed to be a regular thing whenever Paige would come in and the attractive barista was there. Paige opened her mouth to say something but her efforts fell short, the only thing Paige could do was nod her head while offering the other girl a shy smile. "Isn't graduation around the corner?" The coffee scented woman inquired as she made her way into the curtain area to pour some more coffee into Paige's mug.

"Yeah I have one more final and I'm done. Graduation is in two days."

"Well then congratulations Paige. I'll miss my best customer." The raven haired woman smiled before walking out of the small area and closing the curtain behind her. Paige was left staring at the red velvet curtain that made up her study area and wishing that she would have said something to the woman. She had been coming to the coffee house for three years and still hadn't said more than a few sentences each time to the barista. She was tongue tied every time she was in front of her, she had always practiced what she would say to the woman but the words never left her mouth.

Paige sighed heavily before turning her attention back to her books and sipping her coffee. _Maybe next time_ was Paige's mantra every time she was too shy to talk to the girl.

* * *

Emily stood outside of the velvety curtain closing her eyes and sighing before going back and making refills around the cafe. She always saw Paige come into the cafe and order her macchiato before heading off to the corner area. She knew the woman's routine whenever she came in, which was three times a week for three years; Sunday, Wednesday and Friday. So to see her there on a Thursday was something different for Emily. The brown haired women would come in with a backpack and armful of books stumbling into the red velvet area. Emily then brought her coffee for her and then later Paige would order regular coffee for the remaining time that she was in the cafe. Some nights she would be there until Emily closed, but Emily didn't mind.

Emily was fond of the girl and honored her dedication to her schoolwork. Emily herself was in graduate school now but when they first met Emily was a senior at NYU while Paige was a sophomore. Now her shifts were all closing, so she was there whenever Paige was. Emily had tried to talk to the younger woman but every time she would Paige seemed to be uninterested. Emily understood and eventually stopped her flirting attempts but when she heard that the girl would be done with school soon, she felt a bit of sadness. She was a part of Emily's day and was one of her regulars, she knew that she would stare at the red velvet area and expect Paige to to be in it with her books surrounding her. It was something that Emily would have to deal with, her hopeless crush on the brown haired girl and the loss of her favorite customer.

* * *

It was the night of Paige's graduation and she had spent the majority of the day with her family after she walked across the stage in the morning. But now she found herself dressed up and leaning her head against the window looking outside at the busy New York streets. She hears the voice of the man that her parents fixed her up with in the background but she only fixated on the coffee house that was a block away. The lights were still on even though they were supposed to close in ten minutes. Saturdays was the only day that the coffee house would close earlier, Paige never understood why but she didn't really question it because she wouldn't come that day.

"Hey do you think we can stop right here and get some coffee?" She politely asked interrupting the man in the middle of a sentence. The man pulled over and was about to get out when Paige assured that she would be fast. She just needed to get away from him for a few minutes. The majority of the night he had been talking about himself and Paige needed to get some air, even if she got turned away.

There was some hope that Emily would be working but she knew that Saturday was the only day she didn't work at the coffee house. She walks up smoothing her black tight dress down on the legs and into the coffeehouse. She walks up to the counter hears the tiny bell behind her as the door closes. She waits hesitantly at the counter before walking towards the back room.

"Excuse me, I was actually closing up for the night." She hears the familiar voice from behind her. Paige is still with her back towards Emily, mustering up the courage to actually talk to the girl without the distraction of books and papers. She turns around to Emily holding a bus tray with dirty dishes on her hip and a damp towel thrown over her shoulder.

"Paige? Woah… you look…good... I mean nice." Emily swallowed hard as she caught a better glimpse of Paige's legs in her tight black cocktail dress. She subconsciously bit her bottom lip then she realized what she was doing almost dropping the bus tray. "Um sorry what can I uh get you?" Emily looks at the dirty dishes and places the tray in the back so she could wash dishes later. Her heart was racing a mile a minute at all of the exposed skin Paige had, she was used to seeing her in t-shirts/jackets and jeans, never in anything like... that. All the suppressed feelings she had for Paige were boiling up to the surface again and Emily couldn't think straight.

"Hey Emily, thanks…I thought you were closing though?" Paige leans up against the counter, she had notice the way that Emily's eyes fixated on her before she got behind the counter. Usually she would turn around and walk away, but the fact that Emily was the one fumbling over her words and not the other way around, gave her a sense of satisfaction. It gave her this wave of courage for the first time since meeting the barista.

"Oh um yeah. But for you I could. Uh you know since you're such an um regular." Emily laughed nervously as she avoided eye contact with the beautiful brown haired woman. Emily began to walk to the back to grab a to-go cup for Paige's coffee.

"I actually need two…my date is waiting for me in the car." Emily's shoulders slumped slightly but she regained composure going to get another cup. She sighed before mustering up a smile as she walked back to the front to pour the coffee into the cups.

"Your boyfriend is really lucky."

"Oh he's not my boyfriend, my parents set me up on a date with him tonight of all nights. It's going really bad as if I didn't know that it was going to anyways. He's not my type but I wanted my parents to get off my back."

"Here you go." Emily placed the two coffees in front of Paige and didn't dare show the sly smile she had from knowing that Paige didn't like the guy. "I'm sorry that your parents set you up."

"Emily?" Paige sucked in a big breath. She remembered all the times she wanted to ask the barista out and how she wouldn't. She would instead go lay on her bed and stare up at the ceiling thinking of the raven haired beauty. All the times she said _Maybe next time_ came back and she closed her eyes summoning up the courage to do something that she should have done three years ago. "Do you want to go on a date with me?" Paige said confidently as she stared at the dark brown eyes slowly move up to meet her gaze.

"Uh um ye-yeah I'd lo-like that." A smile formed on Emily's lips as she dipped her head to try and hide her blush from Paige. She wasn't used to being this nervous around the other woman. "When? I'm off on-"

"Now?" Paige intercepted quickly, fearing that if she didn't do it now that she had her newly found courage, she would chicken out.

"What about your date? In the car?" Emily's eyebrow quirked as she looked outside the window subconsciously.

"Like I said, he's not my type… I'll tell him that it wasn't working."

"Um, sure." Emily laughed softly as she saw Paige back out of the coffee house to go outside. Emily let out a sigh of disbelief, she had always thought that Paige was uninterested in her flirting attempts. But she now understood that Paige was shy and still in the closet to her parents.

She looked up when she heard the bell once again to see Paige standing there with a goofy smile plastered on her face. Emily subconscious looked between her and Paige and noticed how underdressed she was to this date. She was wearing a band t-shirt and a simple pair of jeans with some converse while Paige was wearing her stunning black dress with some black high heels. She was hoping that there would be more dates to follow this one so that she could redeem herself.

Paige helped Emily close down the coffeehouse and they got to talking. Paige found out that Emily only came in today because the other closer was 'out sick', Paige silently thanked Emily's co-worker for calling in sick, giving Paige this opportunity with Emily. They closed the register and cleaned up all the tables turning off of the lights to the front part of the coffeehouse.

They took the coffee's that were originally for Paige and her date and sat on the cozy couch that was in the back of the coffeehouse continuing to talk. Both Paige and Emily were in shock by how much Paige was talking. Paige more so, because she never talked this much to anyone in one sitting. Paige was a shy person and kept to herself a lot of the time. Emily was interested in everything that Paige had to say, from taking about her graduation to her parents. Emily was intently listening and laughing with Paige. They didn't intend to stay at the coffeehouse for the whole date but as Emily looked at the time she saw that it was almost time to open the coffeehouse again. It was 5am and Emily had an idea for a way to end their date. Emily excused herself and went to the back room fixing up one of the famous dessert dishes that the coffeehouse was well- known for serving, a smore's dip plate.

When Emily finally emerged, she had a tray with two more cups of coffee and a small pot of the smore's dip with the graham crackers surrounding the circle pot. Emily instructed Paige to follow her up the stairs that led to the top of the building that had a few lawn chair set up looking in the direction of the peeking sun. They sat there eating the smore's dip and sipping on their coffee, as they continued to talk until finally the sun was rising on the top of the building in front of the coffeehouse. But as the sun continued to rise they stopped looking at the beautiful orange-pink sky and stared at each other. Emily was caught off guard when Paige got off of her seat and came face to face with Emily and in that moment Emily couldn't breathe. She closed her eyes thinking that Paige was going to kiss her but then she felt Paige's tongue run across her lower lip and when she opened her eyes she saw Paige staring at her lips before looking up at her.

"Sorry you had chocolate on your lip." Paige chuckled as she saw Emily's reaction but finally gave in. "Oh but you have some more right here." She leaned in and kissed Emily softly. This was Paige's first kiss with a girl and she wouldn't have wished it any other way. Emily's lips were soft and with the slight taste of chocolate, Paige couldn't ask for anything better. They stayed up on the rooftop kissing for a bit longer when Emily pulled away looking up at Paige.

"Why did it take us three years? Especially since you're leaving for law school." Emily stated sadly as she ran her thump across Paige's cheek.

"I'm going to NYU's law school. So you're stuck with me for a few more years. " Paige smiled as she leaned in to kiss Emily once again. She couldn't get enough of the raven haired beauty and she hoped that, that would never change.


End file.
